After picking up some chocolate treats we headed to Box Canyon to see the waterfall. The drive up there was beautiful.
We decided to hike to the bottom of the falls first. A nice short easy hike before lunch. Isaac had fallen asleep and so Addie stayed back to watch him. The trail wandered along the edge of the mountain.
And there there was a huge stack of stairs to zig zag back and forth down to get to the bottom.
The waterfall was so loud! I was surprised. Besides watching the water come down through the rocks there really wasn’t much to do down there. The kids collected rocks at the edge of the water and “tried” not to get wet. It was nice and cool down there in the shade with the water -- a welcome change from the rest of our hikes.
On the way back up the stairs we spotted the nest of a Black Swift. Here’s a quick bit about the bird: It spends its days so high in the air that it can rarely be seen from the ground. Their breeding habitat is frequently associated with water. The birds most often nest on high cliff faces, either above the ocean surf or behind or next to waterfalls. The nest is made of twigs and moss glued together with mud. The clutch size is 1 egg. American Black Swifts live on the wing, foraging in flight. They eat flying insects, primarily flying ants and beetles, often foraging in small groups.
We had to take a picture quick because a park ranger was moving anyone who noticed the nest along so the parents wouldn’t be afraid to come sit on the egg. Since so little is known about these birds, I think that was pretty cool.
After looking at the waterfall we took a loop around through the trees go back to the parking lot.
Isaac was awake by the time we got back and we put a blanket over a picnic table and made wraps for lunch. Yummy!
Of course walking on the railroad ties instead of eating was popular with the younger crowd.
After packing lunch back in the car we headed off for the hike to the top of the waterfall. After climbing up a bunch of stairs there were switchbacks all the way up the side of the mountain. It was cool to see the roots sticking out of the dirt as we climbed.
But the roots were nothing compared to the dirt itself, in the mind of a three year old.
The last rocks to climb over…..And we made it!
Group picture time. :-)
Quinn jumped into our family picture….hee, hee, hee.
There was a cool tunnel to crawl through on the other side of the bridge – a highlight.
And then a SUPER steep mountainside to climb down. There was a cable to hold onto to help you down, but some of the kids had a hard time reaching it it was so high. 
Isaac loved it when he was close enough to reach out and hold the wire.
We wandered around on this trail for a bit. It had a really pretty view. Then we took a side trail which we were about half way up when we had a few hiking breakdowns and decided that the kids were done for the day. Neil was actually really good….and there was enough dirt to play with too. :-)
Back up the steep steps….
By the time we got back down the switch backs Neil was done too. So he and I counted the steps we had to go down. Too bad I’m writing this 4 months later and can’t remember what we got to. I’m thinking about 80.
On the way out we looped back around to take a picture of the river because I thought it was so cool. Look how green it is! Amazing!
That night we were rewarding for all our hiking with dinner on the town. Addie used to work at this Italian restaurant as a teenager and it was so fun to go eat there. We got a really fun room pretty much to ourselves, and dinner was oh so yummy. 
During dinner we made up stories about the murals on the walls. It was fun.
What a great way to end vacation! Thanks Addie.
